Lovers set each other on fire

IN what was possibly a lover’s quarrel gone horribly wrong, a Pietermaritzburg couple has landed in a terrible state in hospital after they doused each other with petrol and set each other alight at their home yesterday.

Police have opened two cases of attempted murder. Speaking to Weekend Witness yesterday, Inspector Joey Jeevan said the couple lived together in a rented outbuilding in Boom Street.

The man is believed to have come home during his lunch break when an argument ensued between the pair.

“At this stage we don’t know the exact details of who poured petrol on whom, but we are investigating circumstances around the incident,” said Jeevan.

People who live on the same premises said both the 32-year-old man and his 30-year-old girlfriend blamed each other for the incident before the woman passed out from shock.

A division officer with the Msunduzi fire department, Nkosinathi Mchunu, said his was the first emergency service to arrive at the scene.

There was no serious damage to the property, he said. “However, the couple were in bad shape.

We tried to administer first aid, covered them in sheets and used water to cool them down until the paramedics arrived.”

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